Taking Redistricting Away From State Legislators

RICHMOND — Del. Harvey Morgan is familiar with voters on the Middle Peninsula, but rival Democrats didn't consider that when they redrew his legislative district in 1991.

Republican Morgan lived in Gloucester at the time, and Democrats chopped the county into thirds. His new district snaked from Poquoson to Caroline County. It was 150 miles long and narrowed to one-quarter of a mile.

"It wasn't a salamander," he said. "It looked like a large head on a serpent."

For voters, it meant that their representative was up to 90 minutes away by car. People up in Caroline County "had every right to be resentful of me," Morgan said.

That has prompted Morgan to support the creation of a bipartisan commission that would redraw state and federal legislative districts every 10 years. The General Assembly and the governor would still have final say.

Morgan isn't optimistic that lawmakers will give up their control over the process. On Friday, the chief sponsor of a bill to create a commission struck the proposal in a House of Delegates subcommittee. But he described it as a tactical move that would give organizers more time to rally support for a companion Senate bill.

In an unusual move, Del. Brian Moran, D-Alexandria, sent a nine-paragraph letter to the subcommittee to explain his rationale. He politely put it on notice that he didn't consider the debate to be over.

"I do hope and urge you and your committee members to give full and fair consideration to the Senate legislation when it reaches the House," Moran wrote. "This legislation will represent a monumental improvement in the direction of the governance of our state."

The issue has taken on a different tone this year. November's elections split control of the General Assembly between the two parties. That will carry over into the 2011 redistricting, barring unforeseen developments like the death of a lawmaker or, say, someone taking a Cabinet post in a new gubernatorial administration, come 2010. In theory, that gives both parties a reason to compromise this year.

Meanwhile, business groups and former lawmakers have formed the Virginia Redistricting Coalition, which has started an online petition drive to drum up support for the idea.

Attention now shifts to the Senate, where Democrat Creigh Deeds of Bath County and Republican Ken Stolle of Virginia Beach are pushing the bipartisan commission idea.

The five-member commission would consist of retired judges - two representing each party and a chairman agreeable to both sides. Legislative leaders would pick from a pool chosen by the Virginia Supreme Court. The public would have a chance to comment on the proposed maps.

Redistricting is very much "insider baseball." But some people say it speaks to the most profound concerns about today's political process: lack of competition during elections and leaders who seem increasingly partisan and unwilling to compromise.

When one party controls the General Assembly - as Democrats did in 1991 and Republicans did in 2001 - it re-jiggers district lines to maximize its advantage and hurt the other party, what politicians call "gerrymandering."

By factoring in voting history, lawmakers can create safe seats for their colleagues and squeeze out the opposition.

Does it work?

Interesting question.

In 2007, all 140 seats in the General Assembly were on the ballot, but only 17 had any real competition, said David Solimini, executive director of the Virginia Redistricting Coalition. In 2004 and 2006, only one Virginia congressional seat attracted any serious competition, he said.

But partisan redistricting can backfire, Morgan and Deeds said. Morgan recalled how Republicans took more Senate seats after Democrats redrew the lines in 1991. Deeds said the Republicans returned the favor 10 years later, when it came to his own career.

After 2001, Deeds ended up in a district that included two types of Democrats: traditional New Deal types in Bath and Allegheny counties, and more urban Democrats in Charlottesville. It forced him to change his perspective. Now he's running for governor.

"The district I've got is a miniature of Virginia," he said. "The Republicans took a back-bench, focused member of the House of Delegates and turned him into a statewide candidate."

But if partisan redistricting can backfire, doesn't that prove the current system isn't all that one-sided? Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, says so.

Jones helped lead the 2001 Republican redistricting. Since then, the GOP has lost 10 seats in the House. So try to tell him how his efforts "protected" the party in power.

"If it was such a bad process, then the Democrats would not have made any gains," Jones said. "But they have."

Conversely, Republicans rose to power in the 1990s, running in districts drawn by Democrats.

Jones said he didn't see the House Privileges and Elections Committee acting any differently this year than it had in the past - notwithstanding Moran's tactical move Friday.

The panel's new chairman - Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg - isn't swayed, either. "I'm not convinced a commission is the best thing to do," he said. "All it's going to do is elevate politics to a different level. And gerrymandering is greatly overrated."

Deeds and Moran said they hoped that the committee reconsidered the issue.

"It's the right thing to do," Deeds said. "Not just newspaper editorial boards have figured it out, but lots of people out there know it's the right thing. It's just not a sexy thing that sells."

ONLINE EXTRA: * Keep up with all the news at this General Assembly session at dailypress.com /legislativewatch.

* For all things Virginia politics, visit the Daily Press political blog, the Shad Plank, at dailypress.com /shadplank.